DoctorJohn

In fact, the Entertainment Software Association (which represents many top video game companies) met with the WHO in January to create this classification. The whole idea was to avoid making VGA the next "I'm neat so I have OCD" or "I have emotions so I'm bipolar".

An official diagnosis of "video game addiction" cannot be made without 12 continuous months of behavior that is *sufficiently severe enough to significantly impair a person's personal/family/social/occupational functioning*. Again, VGA is NOT about the number of hours played.

So for instance, if your job is to stream video games and you play 12hrs/day but pay your bills, hang out with friends, have relationships, there's no disorder. If you play 4 hours a day but it causes you to abandon your family, gets you fired from work, etc, that's disorder.

Example of VGA: college kid plays League 8 hours a day, becomes very overweight, fails several classes, dumped by girlfriend, continues to play NOT an example of VGA: person with stable job and healthy personal relationships takes a week off of work to binge WoW Classic

You're not an alcoholic if you have a glass of wine every night. You're not a gambling addict if you go to Vegas every year. So let's not be so quick to try and see this new disorder classification as an attack. It's not. It's actually a sorely needed diagnosis.

Why might we need an official diagnosis, you ask? Because otherwise people with real, legitimate video game addiction can often have trouble with insurance paying for their therapy, especially if they don't fit any other diagnosis (not clinically depressed, for example).